The International Society of Arborists was in town for about a week in July and August, and we learned about all kinds of things, both practical and scientific.

Knowing about trees, trimming and caring for trees is an avocation and a profession.

One of the most amazing lectures came from John Gathright, for whom a found piece of wood may have foretold his destiny. As a beachcombing boy, growing up in Canada, he picked up an odd piece of driftwood and carried it home for a unique book stop. Turns out it was a wooden shoe from Japan that had floated to him.

For many years now, he has made his home in Japan, where he is a prominent media personality. His sing-song cadences reminded me of a local pidgin speaker trying to speak "good da kine" English l'dat.

His main message was inspiring: A quadriplegic lady had a dream, and he wanted to help her make it a reality. She wanted to climb a big, huge American tree, the Sherman Oak. But how could she do this? She was 57 years old and confined to a wheelchair.

After a great ordeal, they got her up a tree — and she loved it! She was empowered and felt truly free.

Tears came to your eyes during his presentation. Such a simple thing really: Get up in a tree.

Many of us were tree-climbing kids. I remember climbing on our big banyan tree, yelling, "Look at me, look at me, I'm up a tree, you can't see me!" The Chinese banyan tree in our backyard made us strong and gave us freedom. Our parents encouraged tree climbing and dreaded trips to the ER.

I used to break or bruise something every year, and took it as a badge of pride. My mom would say, "Eh you kids be careful, I don't want to take a trip to the emergency room today or tonight!"

Tree doctors are different in Japan, and they think of trees differently. Some trees are like gods and given special care and reverence. Only tree doctors would ever think to climb those revered trees.

They wondered about this haole guy at first. Climb trees? Nobody did that! But Gathright encouraged it.

In Japan, people with disabilities are kept at home, and there is shame. Kids with no hands or funny fingers are ostracized. One teacher told a kid to hide his hands because it made the other kids uncomfortable, and the boy went home and tried to cut off his thumb.

Now he is a tree-climbing boy; he is happy and gets new respect. He can do things that others can't. He is free and perfect in the tree.

The trees don't care who climbs them. Ropes make it safe for all. Some people even spend a night in the canopy of big trees and sleep peacefully in "tree boats."

We should do this kind of activity in Hawai'i, some of us think. We plan to stay in touch with John, and with tree-climbing folks on the Mainland as well.

Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable-landscape consultant. Submit questions at islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com or Island Life, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Letters may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.